Belgium to recognize Palestinian state at UN General Assembly
BRUSSELS
Belgium will recognize the State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September, its foreign minister announced on Tuesday.
"Palestine will be recognized by Belgium at the U.N. session! And firm sanctions are being imposed against the Israeli government," Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot wrote on X.
In July, French President Emmanuel Macron said France would recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. meeting, due to be held from September 9 to 23 in New York.
More than a dozen other Western countries have since called on others to do the same.
Prevot said the decision came "in view of the humanitarian tragedy" unfolding in Gaza, where Israeli offensives have displaced most of the population at least once and the U.N. has declared a famine.
"In the face of the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law, given its international obligations, including the duty to prevent any risk of genocide, Belgium had to take strong decisions to increase pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas terrorists," Prevot wrote.
"This is not about punishing the Israeli people, but rather about ensuring that its government respects international and humanitarian law and taking action to try to change the situation on the ground," he added.
Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes kill 13
Meanwhile, Gaza's civil defence agency said that Israeli strikes on an apartment and a residential building killed 13 people overnight.
Spokesman Mahmud Bassal said in a statement to AFP that Israeli warplanes hit the top floor of a residential building in southwestern Gaza City, killing 10 people.
Bassal said Israeli helicopters also struck an apartment in the west of the city, killing three and wounding several others.
Israeli forces have been preparing for an offensive to seize Gaza City, the largest urban centre in the Palestinian territory, intensifying bombardments in the area in recent days and warning of imminent evacuation.
The U.N. estimates that nearly a million people live in Gaza City and its surroundings, where famine has been declared.
Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel's war has killed at least 63,557 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
